Brachypodium Maps and Statistics

The Brachypodiums are considered to be weeds, and as such there are no production statistics.

The majority of Brachypodium species are native to Eurasia and Africa, centered on the Mediterranean, but 3 are in the Western Hemisphere, centered in Mexico (13). According to Piep (13), of the species which have been introduced to the United States, B. distachyon is native to southern Europe, B. sylvaticum is native to Eurasia and northern Africa, B. phoenicoides is native to the northern Mediterranean region, and B. pinnatum is native to Eurasia. Brachypodium is also established in Australia

Brachypodiums are invasive weeds that dominate the areas where it grows (16). In the US, B. distachyon is a weed of urban bushland and of the western edge of the wheatbelt, but under-reported, probably because of superficial similarity to Bromus species (11). In the state of Oregon the False-brome working group, focusing on B. sylvaticum, notes that it crowds out tree seedlings, takes over forests, meadows and rangeland, and reduces the nutrition of range. (16).

Figure 1*

Figure 1 Courtesy Plants DB (17.) Identifies locations that the Brachypodiums have been identified in the United States.